Rivals Apple and Avid reached out in different ways to the independent content producer and the professional broadcast house at NAB2007, debuting changes to both production software and asset management applications.

Avid celebrated two decades in business with t-shirts for the first 500 visitors to its NAB booth that read, ‘I spent the evening with a 20-year-old in Vegas.’ And in an attempt to reboot its image, proclaimed at its press event: ‘Believe it or not, we have 270 partners. In no way can we be labelled a closed business.’

Meanwhile, Apple drew gasps from the assembled at its NAB press conference when it announced that Silicon Color’s pricey Final Touch color correction software, which Apple bought last year, would be bundled at no additional cost as ‘Color’ in the new version of Final Cut Studio 2.

But while FCS is a boon to independent filmmakers and boutique post houses without a da Vinci budget, Avid claimed that a survey of the editing market in the U.S. showed not only that 80% of ACE editors chose Avid in 2006, but 92 of 93 U.S. primetime programs were edited on Avid systems.

Apple says it now has 800,000 users whom it consulted about their needs. But while the increasing responsibilities of the offline editor, given shrinking timelines and budgets, make the inclusion of Color logical, will it mean a lesser role for the professional colorist?

‘It’s great to have more creative tools at your disposal for experimentation, and to help clients visualize what the final product will look like,’ says editor Geoff Ashenhurst of Stealing Time, a Toronto-based editorial house. ‘But how could I possibly do something as well as someone who has been at it every day for decades? I could probably learn how to use an HD camera and a light meter fairly quickly, but would you want me to shoot your film?’

Meanwhile, Avid announced Liquid Chrome Xe with AJA card support, which will allow HD streaming. Turning the table on its competitor, the affordability of Avid’s newest editing system directly courts the indie production community dominated by Apple.

‘By 2010, 80% of available [online content] is going to be produced by the individual,’ said Graham Sharp, GM Avid Video. ‘This will be just as big a market for us as the big news operations.’

Speaking of which, while MacBook Pro with Final Cut is standard gear for the CNN field reporter along with a sat phone, Apple had yet to make its way into the news studio – until now. Final Cut Server, based on Proximity’s Artbox, which Apple acquired in December, is being beta-tested by a CBS affiliate in L.A.

Apple’s first entry into asset management will be available this summer, but will have a hard time beating out its rival’s Interplay, which Avid said is now the fastest selling production management system, having sold 150 systems to 5,400 clients in only six months on the market. Early adopters include Alliance Atlantis and the CBC.

In other news, Apple unveiled ProRes422, a 10-bit, 4:2:2 post-production format that allows for HD quality at SD file sizes. Panasonic, Sony and RED announced their compatibility. Avid countered with Script Sync, a powerful new feature that links a screenplay with the editing system and matches audio to text in the script.

www.apple.ca

www.avid.com